A Review in the Form of a Barthes Mythology

     If you have ever been to a library, lived with someone who was an avid listener of NPR or have ever attended a liberal arts college, you have most likely encountered the handcrafted ceramic coffee mug. Aside from suggesting an easy gift idea, this staple attribute to the desk of any liberal-minded, early morning riser suggests a representation of a much larger social context. Despite not having a more catchy or memorable nomenclature, the hand/home-made, ceramic/pottery, tea/coffee mug is an object so commonly exchanged in our culture that the lack of such a known denomination is as good of a place as any to begin a ‘mythology’ of such an object.

     After the turn of the industrial revolution in the late 19th century many wrote on the large decline in what was referred to as ‘organic culture’. Since then, although the prevalence of the industrial society in the Western world has diminished (rest in peace American factories), the hierarchal status that ‘unique artisan’ productions have over the mass-produced has remained. What reflects this unique artistry more than the fact these mugs are so unique that the artist themselves each have their own name to refer to them as?
      This mentality is projected everywhere. It’s better to own the limited released vinyl from your favorite band than to download the mp3 from iTunes. It’s better to see that documentary the Music Box opened last week which has been sitting in a Swedish basement for thirty years than to go see the remake of Footloose (again something deemed higher in culture with an elusive name). It is this sort of discretion that we often gauge to determine someone who is cultured, to someone that is not. A contrived judgment surely, yet who exactly are the people to be judged for such judgments? The 1999 film Fight Club broached this subject cogently with its ‘Ikea scene’ depicted here....

     It does not matter who exactly made these objects, what the colors mean, wether or not it is aesthetic appearance looks.... sort of like poop, all that matters is that it makes a claim about who you are. People like to relate themselves to people, there is nothing foreign about this concept. This desire of relation includes being a member of the handmade ceramic coffee mug club; I even hope to be apart of it one day. We are undeniably a communal species; the issue is that our communal nature has been modified for commodification. Early-rising, liberal-minded persons are not usually outright supporters of artisan exploitation for the purpose of capitalistic functions, but much like the ceramic mugs, early-rising liberal-minded persons are subject to capitalistic commodification just as readily. The 'myth' is that we are not, the 'myth' is that these ceramic mugs are not, the 'myth' is that buy representing ourselves, we are expressing who we are.